The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory

by Julia Shaw

Sometimes referred to as the fourth dimension – an extension of our 3D physical reality – time is something that could be considered a primarily internal phenomenon. It is characterised by linearity, sequentiality and change; by growth or destruction. Our subjective perception of time is known as chronesthesia,13 and it is studied by researchers from fields as diverse as neurophysiology, psychology and philosophy. And what all of these scientific disciplines have demonstrated is that, perhaps unsurprisingly, memory is vital for our ability to perceive time. One line of research argues that the way we perceive the passage of time is through our sense of chronology. In other words, we remember the order in which events happened, which then allows us to infer when and for how long an event took place. Obviously to do this, we need to remember what things happened, and in which order. Time is memory; memory is time.